General Consultant Discussion

We had a client with a quick transition in Management. They use HighTower/SWK POS. The new person called Sage with a question. They were immediately given to SWK. We ended up with a reseller of record change notice from Sage. Long story on this one as this was a large company that used MAS for a small gift shop so the ERP/relationship was not very strategic. Just concerning that we were so quickly pushed out of the relationship by Sage/SWK.

Any feedback from Sage/SWK as to the reason? What's so difficult about the POS that would warrant an ROR. Seems like they are holding back some information.

No. They obviously put no effort in redirecting the client back to me. My guess it was slimy on behalf of Sage and SWK. This would not work on any of our core clients, but I scratch my head if I can trust SWK in our ecosystem. Not sure SWK really cares if I trust them or not as they seem to be in the mode to capitalize on the short term. I have another end users with POS needs. SWK will not get the opportunity.

I have two HT POS clients that liked the HT product but have been very frustrated about HT's attitude and how long they are waiting to be able to update. I had hoped SWK would be better than HT. If I had someone give me a good recommendation for an equal or better product, I would be inclined to move them. Both have talked about it.

@haroldwestover - want to take a stab at this?

If they knowingly did this, its very disturbing. I had a beef with an SAP B1 partner who was also an ISV so they went and stole a client I sold their ISV solution to. All ISV's should include a contract with the var (although its dicey with the asset acquisition here) that says they won't pursue the customer of a VAR who sold an ISV solution. If true, the negative feedback on this could have a real impact on sales

Agreed Mark and I probably know exactly who you are talking about in the SAP B1 space.

The best way to get to the bottom of this is to talk with the customer directly. I've found it to be less revealing when I tried to talk to the other partner/developer because if there's one thing these people get good at it's making up 1,000 reasons why they're the most highly ethical partner in the history of Sage bla, bla, bla, And I'm not talking about SWK specifically - I had a very similar beef with another master developer who talked a lot of BS in defending why they were pressuring development customers to ROR. Thankfully it seems those types of shoddy practices don't last long as reputations get damaged.

John, I've always liked the Fusion Point of Sale, now from Point Solutions LLC: http://www.pointsolutionsllc.com/category/point-of-sale/

@JohnHoyt, thanks for the recommendation. I think Point Solutions is having website issues. the link looks good but it dropped me into a News Archive area. Further navigation generated page not found errors or took me to things that did not relate to the link description. I will try again later.

I wonder what happens if you have enchancements with SWK? Since you have to provide customer information for the enhancement, would they contact the customer? Does anyone have enchancements with SWK?

@JohnBroadfoot There is a separate site http://www.fusionrms.com/ . Also you can call Mike Gill, President, or e-mail at mike.gill@pointsolutionsllc.com.

@JohnBroadfoot I have also reviewed in detail the AccuPOS endorsed solution, since they are here locally in LA. I found their price structure to be somewhat high and some other strange methods of implementation, so decided not to use them, even though they are endorsed.

If your customer insists on sticking with what they have I cant help you. However, if they want a true POS system, designed by POS experts that will integrate Sage 100 GL, AP or AR at a fraction of the price of HT or Accu-POS, I can help you. You will make more money, your customer will be more satisfied and you don't have to worry about fighting the ROR problem.

So did the new guy at the company even know you were the reseller? This has always been a red flag for me in the past. Anytime management changes ERP or Reseller status has the potential to change. Sometimes due to them not realizing existing relationships or with them be more familiar with the other product/reseller or not realize what he is agreeing to.

@haroldwestover What is the POS system you are talking about and does it also integrate with inventory or sales order? We have a long time customer on HT POS with heavy modifications that we have done. I am always looks for my options. We are in the process of upgrading to 4.5 and no HT solution available.

I watched a demo of Harold's system last week. Mind boggling awesome.

The software is POSitive Retail Manager. We have integrated it with Sage 100 Inventory and Sales Order but why. In a retail environment, Sage can't do half even with modifications that a true POS system handles very nicely right out of the box. Therese and Jeff is considering holding a webinar for 90 Minds to demo the program. Indicate to them if you are interested. We just switched an Accu-POS customer to our system. For a 6 user system, customer says maintenance was roughly $6500 per year. The whole new system only cost $8000.

I would be interested in seeing the software @JeffSchwenk and @ThereseLogeais

@JeffSchwenk I think we have a link on Socialcast for you to receive your paypal bonus from Harold...JK, LOL

@haroldwestover - I have a client in need of a POS system now and I am in need of a qoute. Who should I contact?

@haroldwestover Yes, that's the issue with Accu-POS. The maintenance is incredibly high with no evidence to the client that it's valuable. Sage has not been helpful in trying to rationalize it either. I'm interested in the POSitive Retail Manager, @JeffSchwenk and @ThereseLogeais

Jane, if you need to talk before Monday call me on my cell 216-346-1745 or email at hwwestover@warriorgroup.com. If after Monday then please call the office at 330-225-5120. I need to know the number of lanes per store and the number of stores. If just one store, then just the number of lanes. Licensing has nothing to do with Sage licensing. If you only have one store and one cash register, then you only need one license.

@haroldwestover Will this package work equally well for a client who does about 12 trade shows annually and needs up to 6 stations at the largest show and 2 at all others?

Yes perfect for that. In fact, we have one customer whose ""trade shows"" are in the ""boonies"" with no power. We installed the system on folding carts and the whole system runs on boat batteries. After the show, they bring the unit back and it auto syncs with the main database (inventory). Your customer would need at least one license for the main database and 6 licenses for the largest trade show. Also in normal use, when the internet goes down, the POS system continues to run. When the Internet comes back up, it immediately begins to sync with the main database.

Harold - my email to you bounced back. Can you email me and then I will reply to your email. jcavanaugh@redw.com. Thanks.

And this my friends is the power of 90minds and Socialcast!

@MarkChinsky Yes it is! And for all of you that just received your invoices from Jeff, pay them with a smile (and a check).

@haroldwestover We have modified the HT POS to accommodate a large set of modifications that our customer has. Some mods link to a ledger system we have of our customers customers who has employees that purchase from the stores. These stores will link to the ledger to see if they are an employee, how much they can purchase on payroll deduct or how much the employee can get per month on account. They have different stores for different customers of theirs (different divisions). So another store may allow this available to buy by $ amount and others may be by how many of an item is available to buy. This means we have a table by inventory for the grouping per division per item. Division 1 can have 3 shirts 2 pants and 1 tote. Division 2 might have $200 payroll deduct. You got the idea. Not all of our mods extend out to the POS. Some functions of inventory is referenced in the mods. SO is there for them to ship to them through normal process if it doesn't exist in the store. Our main issue with switching is ability to custom program and link back to our mods in the core Sage 100 product.

Good luck with upgrading that mess.

Yeah it was suppose to be a year long then it got bumped to 6 months then 3 and now we are migrating pieces of it at a time. At least the customer is throwing money at it at this point to get us to do it in a shorter time. We have spent months adjusting the old system so it is heavily modified.

I am

I think Jeff and I are still trying to figure out what the dark side of @haroldwestover's POS program is. It was - as Jeff said above - mind-boggling awesome. I see a couple of people interested in a webinar from Harold. Besides @DianeRuth and @JohnHoyt, are there any others?

I would like to see a demo also.

Yes please!

Thanks all! I will work with Harold to schedule this and will let you know once we've finalized it.

I'd be interested as well.

Let's start a new message when you know the demo date

Yes, Please.

I've had a good discussion with Jeff Roth about this, and I'm satisfied that SWK will take steps in the future to make sure this situation doesn't happen again. I feel completely comfortable using SWK enhancements.

@ThereseLogeais and @haroldwestover - please post the new message link for the demo of POSitive Retail Manager when you're ready, thanks.

I was away for the weekend but we're working on a time. I'll post it in a new comment soon.

@haroldwestover - I have a long time Sage 100 Advanced customer that operates two retail/wholesale lumber yards. They have always used sales order but would really like to find a POS system to use other than Activant. Would be interested in discussing with you to see if there could be a fit.

Sure, please provide a time and phone number

@haroldwestover - it appears that with POSitive Retail Manager the customer might have to use Avera Charge credit card processing? I have a client that is looking for something that doesn't require her to switch processors, because of a current bank loan agreement.

POSitive works with pcCharge. In our experience, most processors will pay for pcCharge to keep the business.